Homes

Home show turns up the heat

Guests explore the Kenginston modular home from Karoleena Custom Homes during a stop at Calgary’s home and garden show earlier this month.

EDMONTON - Get ready for war, home-show style.

As the Home and Garden Show unwraps its 45th edition this week at the Edmonton Expo Centre, look for a modified version of the Food Network series Dinner Party Wars to take to the mainstage.

Celebrity chef Corbin Tomaszeski is set to turn up the heat on selected home show visitors by bringing them up on stage to perform in a modified version of his hit show, which sees three couples go head to head in a no-holds-barred dinner party competition.

Meanwhile Bryan Baeumler, star of a host of HGTV series including Disaster DIY, will be declaring war on shoddy renovations, providing insight on how to get a renovation done right.

Add in a host of additional design and garden professionals and show manager Teri Salazar says the 2012 edition should be a winner.

“It’s all about restoring, refreshing and renewing your home. It is about getting inspired and learning new tricks, seeing what other people are doing and finding new solutions,” says Salazar, noting that 600 exhibitors are expected to take part.

Salazar says adding Tomaszeski into the mix at this year’s home show — running March 22 through March 25 — is a perfect fit, as the show is not just about the home itself but what goes into it as well. “To me, it is also about your lifestyle and what you do in your house,” she says. “You spend all this money to build or renovate your house, but it is also about living in your home and today a lot of people are eating at home more often.”

Gear up for a pantry-raid battle

For Tomaszeski, who grew up in Warburg, about 95 kilometres southwest of Edmonton, and is a graduate of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology’s culinary arts program, home shows are a great place to get excited about cooking.

“The idea is to bring two people up onstage and re-enact a part of Dinner Party Wars. I’ll pull two people out of the audience who are uncomfortable in the kitchen and have them pretend to be a couple,” says Tomaszeski, who explains that the idea is to get people to connect with their food, rather than a specific ingredient, and cook from the heart. “People should also learn how to cook pantry raid-style (using what you have in your pantry),” he says. “If people understand this style of cooking, the stress in the kitchen would go away.”

Tomaszeski will also answer questions after his presentation.

Season three of Dinner Party Wars has just finished shooting and will air this fall. And “Restaurant Makeover is coming back,” adds Tomaszeski. “No matter where I go they always ask about that program — and I will be on it, as one of their chefs. They’re making the show a little more current and there will be some modest changes. Igor (Shamraychuk) is back, and there will be some new chefs and new designers. I think it will start airing this fall.”

Sheds go upscale

But it’s not just about the kitchen at this year’s home show. Designers Alykhan Velji and Rosalyn Lazaruk, the latter of Edmonton’s Wicketblue Interiors, will help you transform your backyard with chic sheds.

These aren’t your typical backyard sheds, say Lazaruk and Velji. They come with drywall, electrical and windows, and are sourced from the Calgary Shed Company. With three examples to be set up at the show — tool, gardening and crafting versions — the sheds are designed to add indoor space outdoors and can easily be customized on a reasonable budget. “It’s about upping the ante on the regular shed and making it a lot more usable,” says Velji, who notes that Ikea furniture is being used to furnish the sheds without breaking the bank.

The design duo is also collaborating on a presentation called Get in the Mood, focusing on six of the top design trends for 2012. Lazaruk’s favourite is Mod Inspiration, inspired by design from the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. “Mod Inspiration has a definite bit of a retro vibe to it. It is very mid-century modern inspired,” she says. Velji’s favourite is Boho Chic, a very eclectic look that includes a mix of ethnic material with traditional and very modern pieces. “We’re showing people what they can do if they think a little outside the box,” adds Velji.

Make it new again

Or you may want to check out Tara Jamieson’s take on reinventing furniture. “I want to open people eyes to reinventing their furniture as opposed to buying something new,” says Jamieson, an oil and gas accountant who ditched her former career to follow her passion and last year launched Lauren Lane Décor in Calgary.

Now with reinvented furniture for indoors and chic sheds for your backyard, the only thing missing may be the actual house itself. But don’t worry, the Home and Garden Show has got that covered too. Karoleena Custom Homes will have their 1,750-square-foot Kensington model modular home assembled and ready to view at the show.

“This year we’re unveiling one of our bigger home lines. Last year (at the 2011 Home and Garden Show) we introduced our cabin line. This year we’re introducing our home line, which is geared for city lot sizes,” says Karoleena CEO Kurt Goodjohn.

The Kensington, an architecturally designed space over one expansive floor, features two bedrooms and two bathrooms, an eat-in custom kitchen with top-of-the-line stainless steel LG appliances and interior ceiling heights ranging from eight to 12 feet. The home is actually pre-fabricated in modular form at the company’s Calgary facility, then assembled on-site where it is placed on a foundation.

And for those with a green thumb or looking for the next best thing for your garden, check out the garden stage where experts Tim Chichak, Sheldon Gesell, Deb Sirman and Rob Sproule will talk about 2012 garden trends.

— Ticket Prices: Adults – $14. Seniors (60 and up) and youth 13-17 – $11. Children age 12 and under are admitted free. A $3 discount is available if tickets are purchased online through the show’s website before attending.

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